Sundin: will he sign here? (Take 2)

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

He actually should have less pressure with a better offensive team. The addition of Tanguay.

The funny thing is that in the Sundin sweepstakes we've all kind of overlooked the potential impact of Tanguay. I realize he's not a superstar but a complementary player, a productive guy who doesn't dominate; but we're talking about a player who's had four point-per-game seasons, on two different teams, in both the 'old' and 'new' NHLs. That's four PPG seasons in eight years; Kovalev has had four PPG seasons in 16 years. Statistically speaking, if not perhaps stylistically or in their ability to dominate on specific shifts, Tanguay is a signficiantly more productive player.

So we've added a guy who is, on balance, more productive than Kovalev.

I think we'll be OK even IF Kovy steps back a bit (although a regression to the 06-07 Kovy would be a serious problem).

[SAKS-AVENUE]

At least it's a contract year. Let's hope he plays accordingly.

Like Ryder did? After watching that contract year performance I realized it doesn't always bring out the best in players. Maybe it's too much pressure they put on themselves. I heard a whisper this summer that Kovalev actually asked to renegotiate his contract. They went away fairly quickly, I guess Bob wasn't into it. Soooooooooooooo this means two things.........

1. Kovy wanted to take advantage of his stellar year because he himself knows it will be almost impossible to match or beat this season, he just doesn't have enough in the tank to repeat.

Or.......

2. He will be so bummed and distracted by the fact Gainey shrugged off his request .The disappointment Kovy will suffer will have us witness a season of uninspired effort all year long.

I know "NEGATIVE". I can't help it. Kovalev always seems to find a way to bum me out. Only last year did I start to really like the guy. I hope I'm wrong and he's been sitting at home watching tapes of his glory years so he can double last years performance.

GO KOVY GO!!!!!!!!!

[Ecurb]

If you see the Rangers make a trade for a 5 million dollar player off the books for a draft pick in the next week or so you'll know if Sundin is a Ranger.

Realistically speaking i think it's the Habs, Leafs or Vancouver. Too many other things need to happen in a short amount of time. I beleive there is a date when teams have to be under the cap.

Ecurb, that was funny about about which Zherdev will show up? I think the same can e said for Kovalev. I hopr the habs get the one from last year. He actually should have less pressure with a better offensive team. The addition of Tanguay.

I know there are several knowledgable people here that will disagree with me,

but Kovalev has been fairly consistent for us. His first full season with us he got

65 points in 69 games. He second season he got 47 points in 73 games and in his

third season he got 84 points in 82 games. In his second season he tried to play

through knee, elbow and I'm not sure what the term was but something that caused

dizzy spells. If you eliminate the second season he has gotten us 149 points

including 58 goals in 151 games. Thats not to shabby.

So, what might he get this season, it'll depend on his health, but I think 70+

points if he remains healthy is a reasonable expectation. Yet as someone pointed

out he'll be playing for his next contract and if we do add Sundin and he plays

on his wing he could easily top last years totals.

[sbhatt]

Like Ryder did? After watching that contract year performance I realized it doesn't always bring out the best in players. Maybe it's too much pressure they put on themselves. I heard a whisper this summer that Kovalev actually asked to renegotiate his contract. They went away fairly quickly, I guess Bob wasn't into it. Soooooooooooooo this means two things.........

1. Kovy wanted to take advantage of his stellar year because he himself knows it will be almost impossible to match or beat this season, he just doesn't have enough in the tank to repeat.

Or.......

2. He will be so bummed and distracted by the fact Gainey shrugged off his request .The disappointment Kovy will suffer will have us witness a season of uninspired effort all year long.

I know "NEGATIVE". I can't help it. Kovalev always seems to find a way to bum me out. Only last year did I start to really like the guy. I hope I'm wrong and he's been sitting at home watching tapes of his glory years so he can double last years performance.

GO KOVY GO!!!!!!!!!

I think that if Bob did shoot down a request to exend Kovy's contract, he'll respond with....

3. Have an even better season than last year, so he can either force Bob to pay him even more than he wanted in the first place to extend...or tell Bob to go to hell when he has other fat offers on the table from other teams for the next season.

Kovy seems to play better when he's a little bit pissed off.

[habs rule]

Like Ryder did? After watching that contract year performance I realized it doesn't always bring out the best in players. Maybe it's too much pressure they put on themselves. I heard a whisper this summer that Kovalev actually asked to renegotiate his contract. They went away fairly quickly, I guess Bob wasn't into it. Soooooooooooooo this means two things.........

1. Kovy wanted to take advantage of his stellar year because he himself knows it will be almost impossible to match or beat this season, he just doesn't have enough in the tank to repeat.

Or.......

2. He will be so bummed and distracted by the fact Gainey shrugged off his request .The disappointment Kovy will suffer will have us witness a season of uninspired effort all year long.

I know "NEGATIVE". I can't help it. Kovalev always seems to find a way to bum me out. Only last year did I start to really like the guy. I hope I'm wrong and he's been sitting at home watching tapes of his glory years so he can double last years performance.

GO KOVY GO!!!!!!!!!

where did you hear that? I have not heard that little tid bit.

[SAKS-AVENUE]

where did you hear that? I have not heard that little tid bit.

You would have to dig around on google, or maybe someone here can point you in the right direction but at the beginning of the summer Kovalev's agent asked to give Kovy an extension this year and the news went away as fast as it came. Haven't heard anything since. For all I know they are working on it.

[Athlétique.Canadien]

The story so far and the truth about what is really going on with Sundin:

Stam Nidnus gnidih ni nialp thgis dna fi uoy dnatsrednu siht tnar ll'ti eb sa ysae ot dnatsrednu sa oremun neetriht flesmih.

Gnirob!

Russian:

Никто действительно не знает, не даже Kovalev

Now, we all need to take this seriously. My sources are solid. I'll bet you all a 3 dollar bill! If you can read this you'll know what Mats is going to do:

誰も本当に知らないで、月の男性ではなく

PS. Those who can read Japanese or Russian are not entitled to partake in this major rumour.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Athlétique.Canadien

[habs rule]

You would have to dig around on google, or maybe someone here can point you in the right direction but at the beginning of the summer Kovalev's agent asked to give Kovy an extension this year and the news went away as fast as it came. Haven't heard anything since. For all I know they are working on it.

yeah I did find some rumors on blogs that they had asked for an extension, the consensus of what I read was that he wants to finish his career in Montreal and that it was not a more money thing but a I want to know that I will be here till I retire. Have you heard anything else or is that your take on it as well?

[SAKS-AVENUE]

yeah I did find some rumors on blogs that they had asked for an extension, the consensus of what I read was that he wants to finish his career in Montreal and that it was not a more money thing but a I want to know that I will be here till I retire. Have you heard anything else or is that your take on it as well?

Nope, you actually brought up the staying in Montreal bit. I only heard extension.

The story so far and the truth about what is really going on with Sundin:

Stam Nidnus gnidih ni nialp thgis dna fi uoy dnatsrednu siht tnar ll'ti eb sa ysae ot dnatsrednu sa oremun neetriht flesmih.

Gnirob!

Russian:

Никто действительно не знает, не даже Kovalev

Now, we all need to take this seriously. My sources are solid. I'll bet you all a 3 dollar bill! If you can read this you'll know what Mats is going to do:

誰も本当に知らないで、月の男性ではなく

PS. Those who can read Japanese or Russian are not entitled to partake in this major rumour.

Great.......the EK of Japan is chiming in.......

[SAKS-AVENUE]

Now, we all need to take this seriously. My sources are solid. I'll bet you all a 3 dollar bill! If you can read this you'll know what Mats is going to do:

誰も本当に知らないで、月の男性ではなく

PS. Those who can read Japanese or Russian are not entitled to partake in this major rumour.

Me so horny?

[TheAussiePosse]

Me so horny?

No, that's not it. The fourth and fifth characters definitely read "God" and "Zilla".

...but what could they mean??

[Athlétique.Canadien]

It doesn't look good according to Gainey He expects this to be resolved next Monday

From CKAC:

CKAC - Dossier Sundin: Gainey pessimiste (FRANCAIS)

We're not out of it yet but this is discouraging.

[Habsfan]

All right. If "that guy" decides he doesn'T want to play for the Habs, Bob will have about 6.5 million$ to spend come the trade deadline to improve the team. This team is good enough to go far without "that guy", so not having him on the team is not a problem.

By the time the trade deadline rolls around, Bob will have a better idea of what this teams needs to make it to the next level!

Edited August 26, 2008 by Habsfan

[SAKS-AVENUE]

It doesn't look good according to Gainey He expects this to be resolved next Monday

From CKAC:

CKAC - Dossier Sundin: Gainey pessimiste (FRANCAIS)

We're not out of it yet but this is discouraging.

\

That blows. You might think that if Gainey feels like it's probably not going to happen then it probably won't. Seriously, if Mats was even a little interested in coming to Montreal he might ask at least a couple of questions. He hasn't let out a peep according to Gainey. He's not coming here.

Lets move on.

KILL THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Bummer.

[Ecurb]

So, Gainey is pessimistic all of a sudden. Methinks alot of other GM's are also.

Sundin hasn't asked about the team. What does that mean exactly. Is Sundin

not sure of what our roster looks like?

Yet, Gainey feels this will all be resolved Monday. Why Monday? You'd think if

Sundin was negotiating with another team someone would have gotten a sniff

of it.

Seems to me Gainey said a whole lot of nothing, not sure why.

[saskhab]

Gainey's so careful with his words: "There's no reason to be optimistic. He hasn't asked many questions about the team."

It's possible Mats hasn't asked many questions about anyone's team, which either would indicate he'd only come back for Toronto, or that he wasn't thinking about teams too seriously before he made up his mind about whether he would play or not.

For Gainey, he can't decifer whether he has a legit shot at Mats or not. But he's still willing to stick around. Mats hasn't told him to take a hike.

The mind-numbing nothingness continues. We won't know until it happens. Bob is still okay with Mats' timeline.

[BTH]

So, Gainey is pessimistic all of a sudden. Methinks alot of other GM's are also.

Sundin hasn't asked about the team. What does that mean exactly. Is Sundin

not sure of what our roster looks like?

Yet, Gainey feels this will all be resolved Monday. Why Monday? You'd think if

Sundin was negotiating with another team someone would have gotten a sniff

of it.

Seems to me Gainey said a whole lot of nothing, not sure why.

He means questions about the city, about the organization. If he were seriously interested in coming here, he would want some answers and then would go compare them to the answers from the other teams. I think this means he's going to retire. A chance at the Cup in Montreal doesn't interest him, a huge payoff in Vancouver doesn't seem to interest him and the Leafs probably don't want him.

[Habsfan]

He means questions about the city, about the organization.

I would think that over the course of his long career in Q.C and Toronto, "that guy" would know enough about Montreal. The guy has spent many nights in this town (the 93 playoffs with the Nordiques) and many other times (ie: the 2 game stint towards the end of the 2005 season(i believe) where the Leaves played two games in 3 nights in Montreal).

[Mont Royale]

Yet, Gainey feels this will all be resolved Monday. Why Monday?

I believe Gainey said he believes it will be resolved BY Monday, which is Sep. 1, for no other reason than Sundin himself said he wanted to make a decision in August.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

The compelling reasons for concluding that Mats won't come here are, first, Gainey's expressed pessimism (when Mr. Discreet says something like that, it's pretty conclusive) and the common view that Sundin has already made up his mind and is waiting for his preferred team to clear up the cap space. If so, then obviously we're not the team.

Oh well. Habs Inside/Out is now talking Robert Lang. Meh. If it happens, OK, but then why didn't we just resign Radek Bonk? I say, let the young guys play and see about a mid-season deal. The argument that we're weak at centre looks good on paper, but we finished first in the East without the magical Big Centre last season and our young guns still have room to get better. Wait and see.

[Easy Ryder]

But if that guy signs with the Rags one of their high paid 2008 UFA

centre becomes availble as they go over the cap.

This is the only link i see with this thread.

No way Gomez but Drury i would like very much. Trade bait would be

have to be heavy. Higgins and a high tout prospect i guess.

Sather and Bob have an history of dealing.

Let's see.

[CerebusClone]

Oh well. Habs Inside/Out is now talking Robert Lang. Meh. If it happens, OK, but then why didn't we just resign Radek Bonk? I say, let the young guys play and see about a mid-season deal. The argument that we're weak at centre looks good on paper, but we finished first in the East without the magical Big Centre last season and our young guns still have room to get better. Wait and see.

Well if did trade for a guy like Robert Lang, we could also just bump another veteran like Begin off the lineup. No matter what we do this summer, I still think Kyle Chipchura should have a permanent spot on our roster, the question is simply whether he should play on the third or forth line. That makes us a better team (at least on paper) right there.

Lang is very big, he still had some skills, and he's produced well at even strength throughout his career, again with the Hawks last season. With a guy like Lang in the lineup, we would have three centers capable of producing from 50-70 points, thus making us stronger down the middle, and giving us more depth in case Plekanec or Koivu gets injured.

We could defenitely use another proven centre with some offense if we truly want to contend for the Cup this season. Should we acquire Robert Lang if Sundin doens't sign with Montreal, or simply wait for a better opportunity, that's another question. Personally, I would have no problem either starting the season with the team in place while keeping our ears and options open.

[saskhab]

The compelling reasons for concluding that Mats won't come here are, first, Gainey's expressed pessimism (when Mr. Discreet says something like that, it's pretty conclusive)

Not optimistic does not equal pessimistic. So I guess you're a glass half empty kind of guy, aren't you?

[Habsfan]

I would have no problem either starting the season with the team in place while keeping our ears and options open.

Agreed. If "that guy" doesn'T want to sign with us, i say we wait and see how this team does for the first 20 games of the season! The Bob could make a move to improve the team.

BY the way, i'm not convinced Lang is the answer to our problems!?